Marley cast about for a moment; the Oaks were numerous, as oaks tend to be in a wood. The Ash trees grew close by, some saplings under the very eaves of the oaks. The thorns were not immediately in evidence, but Marley thanked the Oaks and Ash for their leaves, and put a handful of each in two of the seemingly bottomless inner pockets of his vest.

He chimed in with the others, "Go ahead, lad, Your eyes and mind're the best of us." Bill croaked agreement.

There was a part of Toby he had suppressed out of fear that it would take him over but they needed it now. Mama was counting on him so he closed his eyes and when he opened them again the woods was alive with color. He called on the wild sight and could feel his ears twitch points becoming more prominent through his blond curls. Toby held himself differently more regal and in control. In a voice like birdsong he joined the spell. There were pulses of magic all around them some friendly and other harmful and Toby could see them like harp strings in the air. Grinning from ear to ear he started down the path with a bounce in his step.

They had only gone for a little while when the trees started to press close to the path blocking all light but a green haze. "I know mother green still has her trials but if we can make it if we keep our hearts as light at our feet." He began a tapping a beat with his feet.

Marley began to hum a baritone counterpoint to the ladies, adding a mental cantrip as an aid to his stamina. As he did so, he felt the watch in his vest's inner waist pocket thump three times in quick succession. What, now of all times? he thought. Can't answer it right now, got to keep the tune going...

--------------"Out of touch for two days and he doesn't answer the Wireless Query?" Temporal Affairs Minister Mollesley, Grand Master of the Order of Knights Temporal, said with a blustery note of concern.

Simon Plunkett, Mollesly's new Head of Secretarial Staff, added, "Minister, our thaumic detectors show that a thread of cantrip strength that matches Sir Marley's hypothalamic frequency is emanating from the Arboreal Prime Sector of the Dimensional Gyre. That would seem to indicate that something of possibly dire import is occurring within the Old Wood."

"Scramble the Carolus Linnaeus, then." Mollesly ordered. "Better safe than sorry. Also have Whippett's full platoon aboard and at the ready. However, DO NOT send her or the Linnaeus Guards in unless we get a request pulse from Leftenant Whippett to that effect. Keep Linnaeus on standby in the Gyric Aether. A "Just in Case" measure, you see."

"Yes, minister, right away," Plunkett said as he picked up the relevant speaking tube form its rack beside Mollesly's desk and sent the order.

Soon the bulbous form of the Linnaeus appeared in the underground hangar of the Knights Temporal Air Corps, and took on fuel, provisions, munitions and the mustered guardsman knights of Marley's Linnaeus Guards platoon.

The sound of the cadence count faded into unintelligibility as the knights marched into the interior of the interdimensional dirigible and both the steam-electric and Temporal-Thaumic engines kicked in. Soon, there was naught but static arcs, dust, and a stench of ozone to mark the ship's departure...

Celia hesitated for a moment as the trees closed in. The part of her that was London did not like this rapid overgrowth. It was a not human fear of decay but the knowlage that no matter how advanced or famous a city became in the end it would be devoured by the wood and forgotten. In that moment she was off the beat the green shadows stuck to her boot like glue and caused her to nearly fall. She kept the spell going as best she could and cut the bootlaces away to free her foot. Sadly she cast the other one aside as well and continued bare foot as both boots burst in to bloom.

Verity handed Celia one of her sketchbooks. "Here." she said "The botanical gardens, the physic gardens, protected woodland areas, they're all part of London."

Celia concentrated. Good cities have green spaces. London parks were justly famous. Could the idea of London nurturing plants for the future be enough? The oldest trees remembered cities that had fallen long ago. Perhaps, even if mankind were lost, London would not be forgotten.

The ground was soft and warm between her toes. Celia smiled as Toby twirled to avoid a gnarled root in the path. There was her future and perhaps London's as well. She felt more grounded now and less worried. Yes she was out of her element but perhaps her son was not. Celia kept forgetting he was growing up in to a powerful young man. That was the problem with this job, sometimes you got so very invested in being the city you forgot how time moved when you were a person. He wasn't going to be her baby boy forever. "Thank you for grounding me." Celia said to Verity as the path widened in to a clearing full of dappled sunlight. From just behind some bushes a unicorn came out and watched them like a judge presiding over court. Celia bowed hoping not to offend the creature.

Marley saluted and bowed in one motion, as one would do at court. What else could one do in the presence of one of the animal's of Britain's seal? In Marley's motion was something of both raven and human. Since he was in human form, the movement was more of teh human sort of thing, whereas the Raven content was affected.

Bill also did obeisance much as Marley had done, though it looked different; there was more of the raven, and the human was as an affectation, perhaps more so than was the converse in Marley's bow, since there was little of the human in a raven's body, after all. Still, there was a regal air that seemed to pervade it; Bill was of course no ordinary raven. "Afternoon,' yer Grace," he said aloud. "Don't moind Looby there, e's still learnin' tae be a raven." If the unicorn was surprised to hear a raven speak the tongue of Man, he gave no sign of it, but retained his authoritative mien. If anything, he looked as though he himself were about to speak and pass judgement on their party.

What was the protocol on dealing with unicorns again? It had been so long since grandmother taught her. Well best start with a your grace and her most elegant bow.

'Dear London welcome." It returned the greeting with an oddly musical voice that sounded more like it belonged to a young prince than something on four legs.

Celia knew something was wrong there was a hitch in the voice that stopped it from being entirely smooth. Then she spotted the reason. blood was on the back of his leg not much but the silver shine of unicorn blood was so unusual it caught the eye no matter how little there was. "Your Grace what wounds you so?"

"Monstrous traps of iron dot this wood Dear London and I fear for my mate, she is too long from my side." There was a flicker of worry in his eyes as he shook his mane and stomped a hoof.

Celia looked to the others her honour knew what to do but what if this was a trap?

He considred for a moment. "Then again, how is it that a unicorn got caught in a trap? Usually they're smart as professors and more canny than any poacher born - begging milord's pardon." He nodded his head in a bow to Unicorn.

"Someone is hunting the wildlings. I do not know why the tiny forest fae have drawn the hunters ire but I do know the traps they are useing are an affront that capture more things than the intended pray." He shook his mane again looking disgusted. "Mother wood is bothered by this and asked if out noble selves would look in to the matter but I was able to find no trace of the hunters other then their traps. They used a call that sounded like an inured brother to trick me in to a nasty tangle of knife sharp silver wire."

Celia frowned. There were some things from the wood that could cause havoc in London if released and if whoever these hunters were struck while the city was out of balance it would be a fight to right things. she was getting ready to pledge help when Toby spoke up. "Your Grace I will help you. The wildlings were kind to me once and I should repay the favour."

Marley had been scratching his head just above his left ear; it was an affectation he'd picked up from one of his former mentors, and meant that he was at once vexed in the extreme, yet intrigued the way that he normally would be with finding a solution to a problem of magickal or Temporal Mechanics, or both. So much magic gone awry, almost as if a river Gyre were out of synch; but he had repaired that problem, hadn't he? There was something niggling at the back of his mind, something vitally important and to do with an extremely primitive timekeeping device in the forest,, but for the life of him, he could not - quite - get ahold of it.

With Toby's pledge of help, however, several pieces of the puzzle slipped into place, and the gear-train in Marley's mind suddenly began to move again.

"You shall have my help, meagre though it might be, as well," Marley said with a bow. "Tell me, is the flowering dial of Carolinus still intact?" he asked, referencing the native-plant timekeeping shadowdial that the ancient sorceror had planted just after the Roman Incursion centuries before.

"We think it yet blooms but none have been able to reach it. The paths are bewitched and will not obey the laws of the wood. I had thought that was possibly a rebellion by the will of the wisps, because they become more active this time of year, but seeing the power among your number I think it may be more dark than that." The unicorn looked at them gravely. "I think they may seek to hold Dear London until she turns to stone."

"They'll have a hard time of it, lad, now that we know something's up," Marley said, trying for a reassuring tone.

"So, the paths are bewitched..." He said to the unicorn. He thought a moment, then continued, "The Flower Dial is a simple kind of regulatory machine put in by his late eminence Carolinus; if I can get to it, I might be able to at least make it possible to start a counterattack. I wonder if the Forest would be willing to suffer a rather more complex machine to give it try?" he asked, thinking of the sharp vibrations his watch had emitted on the way to their current location. The Linnaeus stood ready, most likely just outside of the Forest's continuum, if he read the coded ticks correctly.